Comfort is now the defining metric in personal protective clothing and workwear, according to a new 16-page report from the global business information company Textiles Intelligence. Indeed, comfort is no longer just a “nice-to-have” feature added at the end of a personal protective clothing or workwear specification sheet, but is now the factor which determines whether protection is actually worn and worn correctly throughout a working shift.
The focus has moved from simply ensuring that garments pass tests to ensuring that they are worn willingly, correctly and continuously. Factors such as heat stress, fatigue, chafing, and restricted movement deter people from wearing protective clothing, which can put employers in breach of standards and regulations.
It has been shown that comfortable personal protective equipment (PPE) is more consistently worn, reducing the risk of incidents, especially in industries with high health hazards. It has also been shown that comfortable PPE increases productivity and worker retention. Notably, comfort has become “an enabler of compliance”, and true protection is measured not only in laboratory performance but also in how well garments sustain safety throughout the working day.
As a result, the most forward-looking manufacturers are now designing fabrics and garments for comfort first, and they are building protection into garments which move, breathe and dry quickly enough to be tolerated for entire working days rather than minutes at a time.
Seven companies whose innovations have shaped the pursuit of comfortable protective clothing and PPE are 3M, Carrington Textiles, DuPont, Milliken & Company, Sioen Industries, TenCate Protective Fabrics, and W. L. Gore & Associates.
All seven of these companies are engaged in “serious” research and development (R&D) to address the underlying challenge of providing adequate protection without the wearer finding protective clothing too unwieldy or too uncomfortable to keep on for sustained periods. Furthermore, all seven companies have launched several products in recent years which meet these requirements. As regulations, environmental sustainability, and user expectations converge, the future of PPE lies in designing for the wearer first because protection is only effective as long as protective clothing is worn.
